You Ain't Black!

I wonder if Joe Biden ever saw the movie Get Out. I ask myself this question because he and the Democratic party consider themselves to be the owners of the black vote, much like the slaveholders of old considered themselves to be the owners of black bodies, which is the overarching theme of the brilliant horror movie by Jordan Peele.

Let's start with a disclaimer here, even if it shouldn't be necessary at all; this post is not meant to accuse any individual American voter of racism. It's about the very real systemic racism that's present and inevitable in any country that's built centuries of conquest and slave labor, something that's most apparently true of America, which is literally founded on the European invasion followed by the genocide of the continent's indigenous population and the use of slave labor imported from other invaded countries. Racial inequality and the domination by white Europeans over colored people lay at the root of America's genesis. To ignore these historical facts, and to explain away the inevitable residue of this past in today's reality, that is to say that "racism is a thing of the past" and "we're all treated equally by the law and therefore racial injustice doesn't exist anymore", is dangerous and ignorant. At least Biden got that part right in his disastrous interview on Charlamagne tha God's podcast

Anyone with a shred of political awareness knows that conservatism champions tradition and idolizes the days of old, and as a consequence right wing parties feel much more comfortable about flirting with the old race-based social hierarchies, and they are always advocating for strong borders and serving their "own people" first over anyone else. When Trump decided to enter the political arena as a rebel who would take on the entire political establishment on both sides of the spectrum, the choice of which party to infiltrate was easy. It all worked out wonderfully well for him; he's now the president and the Republican party establishment worships the ground he walks on. But this post isn't about Trump or the Republicans (and certainly not about the voters); it's about the much more covert racism depicted in "Get Out", the racism that hides behind the friendly face and "good intentions" of liberals.

In the interview Biden gave on Charlamagne's podcast, he said that if you have trouble choosing who to vote for, Trump or him, then "you ain't black." When I saw that part, when I heard him saying that, I immediately thought of "Get Out", and I'll now spoil the film to explain why. Stop reading if you haven't seen it yet. No really, Get Out and watch the movie first, it's brilliant and in my opinion not only one of the best horror movies ever made, but one of the most important movies ever made. A lot of white people's racism against black people has been explained as fear, that white people fear their dark skinned brothers and sisters. Especially the black brothers who threaten to steal away white women, and in the process stain the purity of "our" race with "their" offspring... "Get Out" manages to convey that same fear in the other direction, it shows that the fear is mutual and that black people fear their white brothers and sisters as well. But above that, it shows how this mutual fear plays out in a reality that's all but defined by its recent history in which white people have long been in a position of power.

The movie centers around a young interracial pair, a young black man, photographer Chris Washington, who's invited to meet the parents of the young white lady, Rose Armitage, in their house in the country. Right from the start the story paints an uncomfortable contrast; Chris immediately expresses his concern by asking his girlfriend if she's told her parents that he is black. His question "do they even know I'm black?" is met with a lot of reassurances that they are not racists and that he'll have a great time. This contrast is made even sharper when the pair confronts a policeman while driving to Rose's parents. Rose was driving the car, but the policeman also asks Chris to show some identification; Chris immediately obeys and reaches for his ID card, but Rose stands up to the policeman and demands to know why he's asking for Chris' ID in a clear act of defiance against the systemic racism we unfortunately see play out in reality far to often. Rose's behavior, as well as that of her family, is in my eyes a perfect metaphor for the white affluent liberals who make up the Democratic party establishment; screaming and yelling about the injustice of it all, while (willfully?) ignoring the fact that they themselves are an intricate part of the system responsible for all that injustice.

When Chris meets Rose's parents, still in the first act of the movie, it is instantly made clear that these people do and say anything to make clear that they Love black people, and do so in an overtly exaggerated and obnoxious way. At the same time they have black servants, the male groundskeeper and the female house servant, who act like animatronic living statues, bodies operated by detached souls. The whole situation is surreal in a menacing and foreboding way. The Amitages again resemble the Democrat party establishment in the observation that they keep up the appearance of fighting for suppressed minorities, almost to excuse the very racist practices they indulge behind the veil of political correctness; this is mirrored in the scene where Rose's father explains to Chris why they have two black servants and that he realizes how this must look from the outside through the eyes of this young African American male. This dynamic was displayed by Joe Biden when he made his "you ain't black" comment and asks the black radio host to "just look at my record" to make the choice between Trump and himself easier. Biden points to his success among black voters in the primaries and the Democrats' historical support among the African American community, but his political record is one that is to the detriment of the black population; it's not hyperbolic to claim that Biden is the main architect behind the mass incarceration of black men in the for profit prison industrial complex. He is the one who introduced within the Democratic party the idea that they should be much harder on crime and the war against drugs. That record won't go away by appointing a female black VP or judge.

Things become very creepy very fast in the second and third act of the movie. In the second act the Armitages throw a party with almost exclusively rich white guests who all gaze upon Chris as if he were something they could own, and who go out of their way to express their fondness of and admiration for black people, with one of them even saying that being black is in fashion. The night before the party Chris is hypnotized by Rose's mother, something he doesn't remember afterwards. In his hypnotized state Chris is for the first time introduced to the future the Armitages have in store for him; he witnesses what's happening in the real world while being unable to move or speak, his soul is buried deep inside the most basic and primitive parts of his brain, only able to watch everything happen, trapped inside a body he no longer controls... You see, Chris is really being auctioned, about to become the property of one of the rich white guests, but not in the traditional way of just becoming a servant, a slave. His fate will be far more horrible than that if the Armitages succeed. They offer a unique service to old and dying white people: the opportunity to transplant their brain's cortex and neocortex onto the brain-stem and reptilian brain of a young black body. I know this sounds crazy, but just watch the film; it makes it all believable because the plot slowly guides you to accepting this horrible prospect. Towards the end of the story we realize that the house servant and the groundskeeper are in fact the brains of Rose's grandmother and grandfather respectively, implanted in two younger black bodies, which accounts for them behaving like remote controlled string-puppets.

With all the online noise and backlash over this stupid comment Biden has begun to walk back on it by suggesting it was a stupid mistake, that he was just being too cavalier about the whole thing. That's nonsense. The Democratic party elite really believes they own the black vote and therefore they don't need to really do anything for them, other than yelling and screaming about the injustices perpetrated by the other side. Joe won't do anything at all about the deeper causes of the systemic racism he and his party acknowledge is real, instead he's acted only to add to it. Biden and the Democratic party leadership think they own the black vote, much like they think they're entitled to the vote of real progressives, which is why African Americans and Bernie Bros alike are demonized by the liberal elite if and when they don't blindly vote for Biden, and why they will be blamed if Trump should win the general elections come November. Just because the Democratic party is slightly less evil, they think that they're entitled to the vote of anyone who realizes how dangerous Trump is. Well, I call bullshit. This ill conceived sense of ownership of the black vote, or that of other minorities, supporting their cause with words while never really acting in their favor, the fakeness of it all emboldens crazy conspiracy theories that support your political adversaries, like the one about liberals favoring open borders just to grow their voter-base...

So here's the deal Jack; you try to EARN the black vote and the progressive vote, or you can shut up. Refusing to vote for Biden isn't a vote for Trump nor something that defines my skin color. "Vote blue no matter who" is as empty and meaningless as "vote against Trump no matter who" and as defeatist as admitting to the choice of the lesser of two evils. All Democrats who claim that now's not the time to have this discussion, that now the only focus should be on defeating Trump, have never been more wrong; now's EXACTLY the time to have this honest discussion. Real change has ALWAYS come in times of political, social and economical uncertainty among the people and was NEVER achieved by clamoring for a "return to normalcy", especially when "normal" is exactly what brought about the current political, social and economical crisis, and exactly what's responsible for Trump's rise to power. We don't want to go back to that normal. We also don't want to message to the Democratic party that they already have our vote, that they can just sit back and win the elections on account of being slightly less bad than the Republicans. According to polls Biden now has a healthy lead over Trump and he would win if the elections were held today. That's just how it is; I think most people will eventually choose the lesser of two evils, and there are a ton of legitimate reasons for that, I'll never shame people for voting blue no matter who, even if "who" is Biden. But I feel as if this courtesy isn't returned by the liberal media and Democratic party leadership, even Bernie Sanders, who keep on vote-shaming people who say they'll vote third party or won't vote at all, simply because neither of the candidates meets their standards.

Anyhow, I'll leave it at that and encourage everyone to watch "Get Out"; it works as a horror movie and as a critique on systemic racism at the same time, the acting is outstanding as well, and the plot is full of little references, callbacks and dark humor, all in support of the main theme and the protagonist's journey. The title is being called out only once in the movie, but its brilliance lays in the fact that "Get out" is what the audience shouts to the protagonist in their heads as the story progresses, just like Chris' best friend tries to warn him, tells him to get the hell out of there.

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